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Twain
Twain is the southernmost municipality within the Republic of Ozark, and serves as one of its two principal mining, metalworking, and agricultural communities. History Twain's early history is uncertain. For the first few decades of the community's existence, before they settled in the area that now comprises the municipality proper, few if any of its people were literate. It was not until the arrival of Licca that literacy (as well as utilitarian knowledge of mining and metalworking) was brought to Twain, and with it the start of their recorded history. Although Twain was consolidated into a genuine community just a generation after the Great War, their oral tradition (as compiled in Mountain Affairs) suggests that Twain's residents had lived separately from the rest of the United States -- possibly hillfolk, possibly native Quapaw who had returned to the area they had been expelled from in 1834, or perhaps anti-state actors in hiding. Whatever the case may be, early Twain was an extremely hostile place. A Pathfinder Corps patrol reported in the 2090s: Similar exploratory excursions by others were met with similar levels of hostility. In the early 2100s a scavenger party from Park Hills made the mistake of stumbling into what would one day become Twain proper. Licca, who was traveling at that time, caught wind of her city's missing scavengers and decided to seek them out. She described her impression: And she did, to such an extent that it forever changed Twain. Not only did Licca introduce literacy and metalworking, but changed how Twain would view and interact with outsiders following her departure from the community some time between 2105 and 2110. They began venturing beyond their territory, and established trading and diplomatic relations the neighboring communities in the following decades, though still keeping outsiders at an arms' length and regularly doing away with raider gangs encroaching from the south. From 2150 to 2200, Twain experienced a burst of growth which resulted in dozens of dependent communities springing up in prime hunting, farming, and mining locations throughout the southern Ozark region. With all of these factors compounding one another, Twain developed a strong trading economy, putting it firmly in the same bracket as the other municipalities. In 2213, however, the Sams, a band a hoodlums from south along the Mississippi river, had arrived and set up camp at an abandoned city somewhere along the river. Probing parties in numbers greater than any other singular force the Twainites had faced began to harass caravans and some of Twain's dependencies. Skirmishes broke out along much of the southern frontier, but never once did Twain request aid from its tentative allies, instead opting to stand on their own. Only some Pathfinder patrols ever clashed with the Sams otherwise. It might as well have been a war. Hundreds would die, and several of Twain's dependencies would be razed. This culminated in a direct raid on Twain, which saw half the town up in flames in 2236. This only ended as an indirect result of The Fortress briefly becoming an Enclave outpost. Amongst the various things the Pathfinder Corps did while under their jurisdiction, one of them was uncovering and obliterating the Sams' home base. Twain rebounded, erecting a palisade wall around the heart of the municipality, before the Lead Belt Treaty went into effect. Under the Treaty, Twain became one of the four principle municipalities to participate in the Quadrimunicipal Federal Government. Their Chief, the elected principal executive of Twain, serves as Twain's primary representative in the Congress. Twain's militia served with distinction in the Constitutional War, their skill as marksmen and scouts surpassed only by the Fortress' Pathfinder Corps. The municipality has since seen a period of growth and expansion, thriving under the Republic. The election of Felicia Jansen is a point of great pride amongst many in Twain, and the founding of Saint Mary's Landing opened up trade to a far broader market than the Republic had previously had access to. Additionally, the destruction of the Sams has permitted resettlement to continue southbound, with as-yet undiscovered resources being found fairly frequently and new mining outposts being continuously constructed, and existing ones expanded. It would not be a stretch to call it a Twainite golden age. Geography The town of Twain proper is located southeast of the Fortress and southwest of Park Hills, near the deserted town of Eminence. The region is characterized by swathes of mutated, yet still very much living, forest, set in and around the Ozark mountains. It is perforated with many natural resources and landmarks, as well as creeks and rivers, which make it both unfriendly to outsiders and naturally advantageous to the Twainites. Culture Twain has maintained a strong mountaineer culture for the entirety of its existence. Survivalism is among the most important things to them, and nearly every able bodied person knows how to hunt, how to forage, and how to field dress game. They later adopted a tradition of mining, smelting, and metalworking. Twainites prosper in conditions where their natural cunning and survivalist skills come into play; the best marksmen, or the most skilled craftsmen, are praised and held as examples to the others in their community as to what an ideal Twainite is made of. They are largely egalitarian, and have a firm belief in the principles of meritocracy and the democratic process. Anybody over the age of 16 is eligible for higher office and has the right to vote. However, they are also very sink-or-swim; those who can't hack it in the wilderness, in stark contrast to those who are ideal survivalists, are generally ostracized. They are religiously devotees of Licca, but also practice a form of aboriginal spirituality which makes them more polytheistic than any of the other municipalities, which all either practice the Americanist form of Christianity or the monotheistic form of Fludayism. Government and Politics Unlike most of the other communities in the Republic, Twain has a genuinely democratic form of government with comparatively little corruption. An elected official, with the title of Chief, serves as the principal executive, and doubles as the principal representative in the Republic's Congress. Each community within Twain, which must be registered with the municipality as a result of past vote-stuffing, elects their own representatives (the exact timing and method of which varies from community to community), who each go to Twain proper in December each year for what they refer to as a "moot" to review and elect a new Chief. Militia Fitting with Twain's reputation as a culture of mountain hunters, Twain's militia has historically been extremely well-versed in navigation, marksmanship, and survivalism in a way that the rest of the municipalities aside from the Fortress have not been. Hunting parties typically alternate in and out, such that at any given time there will be at least some militia on call. Hunts serve double-duty as patrols, with hunters keeping a wary eye out for intruders. Twain's hunters are well-versed in a kind of birdcall code language as a means of communicating over distance without potentially giving themselves away. This works just as well for communicating around their enemies, and is a major reason why intruders have frequently described being "suddenly" attacked by patrols. It's also a major factor in why the Sams, despite possessing a massive advantage in numbers and quality of equipment, were never quite able to score a decisive victory over Twain's militia. The favored form of weaponry in Twain are bolt-action rifles. Typically, these are chambered in .308 Winchester, 7.62x54mmR, 7.92mm Mauser, or a similar full-powered cartridge, and possess a 5-round magazine, although single-shot variants are also quite common. This clade of rifle is preferred because the lack of repeating fire greatly simplifies the design and allows for a much better lockup, which in turn results in better and more consistent ballistics; furthermore, a full-powered rifle cartridge offers enough firepower to kill anything smaller than an elk in a single shot with judicious placement. Economy There are three primary components to Twain's economy. These are: * Agriculture: Though on a far smaller scale compared to Sullivan, Twain regardless produces fair quantities of produce. These range from tree-fruit, to tree bark, to fruits and veggies grown in small scale gardens. *'Hunting, trapping, and herding': Fitting with their reputation as fearsome mountain men, a wide variety of fauna are subject to hunting and trapping. These range from elk and deer, whose meat is a delicacy and whose skins are often used for leatherworking, to mountain voles and other small game. In addition, some Twainite hermits serve as shepherd for flocks of sheep who graze in the valleys and mountainsides, providing wool as well as meat. *'Mining and metalworking': Alongside Park Hills, Twain has a significant sector dedicated to mining and metalworking, with somewhere around half of their dependencies being little more than mining outposts. They produce many of the same products as Park Hills, though usually at a somewhat steeper price because there are fewer metalworkers in Twain. Of particular note, very small-scale gunsmithing operations in Twain proper have come into existence in recent years; these operations craft-produce only single-shot bolt-action rifles modeled after (but not perfectly replicating) a handful of prewar civilian rifles. Prized for a high-quality finish and exorbitantly expensive, these are primarily purchased by affluent hunters and ODF marksmen. Crime and punishment Until recently justice was largely handled in the frontier way: if somebody wronged another person, the culprit would be either beaten and branded if their crime was insignificant, or in the case of particularly awful crimes, summarily executed. Since the foundation of the Republic an effort has been made to institute a more structured form of justice. Typically this comes in the form of an informal tribunal, with local leaders and trusted citizens passing judgement in accordance with whatever seems most fit for the crime. As a rule, that means an eye for an eye. Relationships Twain has been on consistently bad terms with Park Hills for decades, for a variety of reasons. Competition between the mining companies of the two cities, as well as disputes over land distribution post-Lead Belt Treaty, have made for a toxic atmosphere. Skirmishes break out periodically between the two. With Sullivan and the Fortress, Twain has maintained cordial relations for most of recent history and has benefited from an amicable trading relationship with both. Despite being fairly fruitful in its own right, providing a lot of game and forage, Twain had always lacked a stable staple crop like Maize, and the process of retrieving water from streams and rivers up in the hills is far more difficult compared to simply buying fresh water from the other municipalities. Also of note, there is a very strong cooperative atmosphere between the gunsmithing culture of Twain and the Fortress' armorers. Twain's craftsmen have difficulty producing a number of good-quality parts for their craft-manufactured firearms, namely (consistent) helical compression springs and screws, and while they do have the technology to rifle their barrels it is simply easier and cheaper to ship the barrel blanks to the Fortress to be more accurately rifled. Twain is generally considered to be one of the minor players in Ozark, owing in large part to its decentralized nature and position as third in terms of population. Regardless, its economy forms a very important link in the Republic's overall economy, and commands respect. Category:Places Category:Groups Category:Communities